Mike Jones - Beloved coach, mentor and hero to hundreds of children throughout the Tri-State area. (PRNewsFoto/Michael Jones Memorial Fund)

NEW YORK, Oct. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mike Jones Memorial Fund -- www.mikejonesmemorialfund.com -- has been launched to accept donations in memory of Mike Jones, the beloved 25-year old New York Red Bulls Youth Soccer coach, from Tarleton, England, who was murdered in Manhattan in the early hours of last Sunday. There has been global mourning for Jones since his body was discovered, on 14th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue with multiple stab wounds to his head, neck and torso.

The Mike Jones Memorial Fund will support Jones' loving family, helping them to offset the costs of memorial arrangements, outstanding college loans, support his younger brother and carry on Mike's legacy through scholarship funds. Jones is survived by his father Perry Jones, mother Carole Jones and brother Phil Jones.

The tragic and sudden death became an international news story not only due to the horrific and gruesome acts that were caught on video surveillance, but because Orlando Orea, 32, the man suspected of his murder, fled to Mexico last Tuesday purchasing a one-way ticket with cash 15 hours before detectives identified him and placed him on the FBI no-fly list.

Mike Jones was a positive role model for hundreds of children within the New York Red Bulls youth program as well as several community soccer clubs within Westchester, NY. There is an ongoing international manhunt focusing on Mexico to bring Orea back to the United States.